The L Word and Queer as Folk

As I mentioned earlier this month, Showtime and its On-Demand counterpart are re-airing both of these shows for Pride Month. It's been a long time since I've watched either (Queer as Folk has been off the air for almost a decade now; The L Word half that), and I'm really excited to see both of them returning, even if only for the month. I hate to use such cliches as groundbreaking, but QaF especially fits that bill, even if its depictions of gay sex tilted to the soap opera-y. And while it did present a view of gay life that was kind of a cliche (club, drugs, sex, sex, club, drugs, etc.), it wasn't safe or straight-friendly. Some random observations:

• The first season of the L Word was quite scruffy. Yeah, every first season, compared to later ones, is a little raw and underproduced, but I remember it being far more glossy than that. If I'm being completely honest, I mostly watched the L Word out of obligation. I never hated Jenny, though. I always thought she was complex and interesting, though yes, a raging narcissist. But I think it speaks of a larger problem viewers have with "bad" female characters. There really is no female anti-hero archetype, so we're left with characters that fall victim to tired cliches.
• The smoking! Remember when TV characters smoked?
• There's obviously a temptation to use both shows as a barometer for how far gay rights have come, even in a decade. I think this is okay, though I expect that quite a few people would disagree with me. One thing the L Word did that, I think, no other show did at the time was introduce a trans masculine character in Max. It also did a really good job addressing the intersection between gender and sexuality (remember the lesbian-identified man?). Even the (mostly femme) lesbian characters were allowed quite a bit of leeway when it came to sexuality.